Sonya Deville (real name Daria Berenato) was interviewed by Yahoo! Sports for Pride Month and the former MMA fighter turned Tough Enough competitor turned WWE Superstar talked about coming out and how it has had a major influence on her WWE career. Quotes from the interview are below:
Sonya Deville on when Triple H asked if she was in a relationship during Tough Enough:
“When that organic moment played out on television where Triple H asked if I was in a relationship, I literally didn’t know what to say, I wasn’t prepared for it,” Berenato told Yahoo Sports.
“At that point in my life sometimes when people would ask me if I had a boyfriend, I would just say ‘oh, no,’ but never say that I had a girlfriend. I wasn’t that comfortable with talking about it at that point. I couldn’t lie on national television and I couldn’t face my girlfriend and say ‘Oh, I lied about you and pretended like I didn’t have a significant other,’ so I was just honest.”
On coming out to her friends and family:
“What was interesting about coming out to my family and friends is that prior to ‘Tough Enough,’ it was never ‘I’m gay,’ it was more casual and subtle,” Berenato said. “With my mom it was ‘Oh, mom, you know the girl who has been sitting in your house for the past year, she’s actually my girlfriend.’ My mom was just like ‘Oh, ok, that’s fine.’ I never verbalized it, I never vocalized it in my life really until ‘Tough Enough.’”
On being a powerful voice in the LBGQT community:
“It obviously wasn’t planned, but I’m honored and privileged to be given the opportunity to be that person and voice,” Berenato said. “It has given me a whole new inspiration for my job and what I do here in WWE. Obviously wrestling and my in-ring work were my original focus and where my heart was at, but now I have this whole other passion and desire to do something else with this company and that is to change the world and change public perception on the LGBTQ community as a whole.”
On her eating habits with Mandy Rose:
“Mandy and I, to be honest … we’re savages,” Berenato said. “Balance is our motto. We train hard so we can eat big and that’s always been our lifestyle. It’s so fun for us because it’s a way for us to relate to an all-new fan base. We had people come to our signings at WrestleMania who knew us for the doughnuts and not for our wrestling. People love the doughnuts.”
RELATED: Sonya Deville Explains What Pride Means To Her, Being The First Openly Lesbian WWE Star
